Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) Shares Down 3.6% – Should You Sell?

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) shares were down 3.6% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $40.68 and last traded at $41.11. Approximately 85,841,823 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 16% from the average daily volume of 101,650,672 shares. The stock had previously closed at $42.63.

Intel News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Intel this week:

• Positive Sentiment: CES product wins — Intel’s Core Ultra Series 3 “Panther Lake” chips (first built on Intel’s 18A process) generated strong investor excitement, fueling big inflows, upgrades and bullish coverage that lifted the stock into a 52-week high last week. Forbes: Is Intel Stock’s Jump Yesterday Justified?
• Neutral Sentiment: Corporate cadence — Intel has a near-term calendar item (Q4 & full‑year 2025 results disclosure) and continuing post-CES volume/option activity that can amplify moves in either direction; fundamentals remain mixed (small recent net margin, modest revenue growth). BusinessWire: Intel to Report Q4 and FY2025 Results
• Negative Sentiment: Market skepticism and downgrades — some outlets and analysts are warning that Intel’s “future of AI” ambitions are bold but risky, and at least one outlet flagged a downgrade / cautious take that is weighing on sentiment today. TipRanks: “The Future of AI”: Bold Plans Send Intel Stock Crumbling
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst consensus tilt lower — some brokerage commentary and at least one published “Reduce”/downgrade theme is appearing across aggregator sites, adding selling pressure after the rally. AmericanBankingNews: Intel Receives Average Recommendation of “Reduce”
• Negative Sentiment: Profit-taking and valuation questions — after a sharp year‑end/early‑January run, some investors are locking gains and revisiting margins, guidance and whether Intel can close the gap with NVIDIA/AMD on AI datacenter and discrete AI chips (shorter-term selling pressure). Seeking Alpha: Intel: A Series Of (Suspiciously) Fortunate Events (Rating Downgrade)

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on INTC shares. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Intel from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Intel from $21.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Intel from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Raymond James Financial started coverage on Intel in a research report on Friday, November 21st. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Melius raised Intel from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Hold rating and eight have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $35.88.

Intel Stock Performance

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $196.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4,115.12, a PEG ratio of 25.48 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.60.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The chip maker reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter. Intel had a negative return on equity of 0.75% and a net margin of 0.37%.The firm had revenue of $13.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.10 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.46) earnings per share. Intel’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Intel has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 0.080-0.080 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Intel Corporation will post -0.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Intel

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in INTC. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Intel during the second quarter worth $1,579,378,000. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Intel by 32.5% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 86,503,121 shares of the chip maker’s stock worth $2,902,180,000 after buying an additional 21,230,715 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new position in Intel during the second quarter worth $345,245,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Intel by 86.4% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 22,705,050 shares of the chip maker’s stock valued at $508,593,000 after buying an additional 10,523,590 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Intel by 210.9% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 15,498,219 shares of the chip maker’s stock valued at $346,230,000 after buying an additional 10,514,007 shares in the last quarter. 64.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Intel Company Profile

Intel Corporation, founded in 1968 by Robert Noyce and Gordon E. Moore and headquartered in Santa Clara, California, is a leading global designer and manufacturer of semiconductor products. The company is historically notable for introducing the first commercial microprocessor and for driving the x86 architecture that underpins many personal computers and servers. Intel’s core business spans the design, fabrication and marketing of processors, chipsets and related components for a wide range of computing applications.

Intel’s product portfolio includes client and mobile processors marketed under brands such as Intel Core and Pentium, as well as high-performance Xeon processors for data centers and cloud infrastructure.